Stumbleine 2
by hoshiko2kokoro
Summary: Sequel to hakuku's Stumbleline. This is my own invention. A birthday gift for her.  What happens when Arthur learns what Alfred did for him?


_This story is about a genius, who has a lifelong dream, who took ten years in the process to play with time._

Time was never much of a creature I had thought much about. I tend to not dwell on the past. And yet, somehow, time was all I found myself thinking about after I began dating Alfred, an old mate from secondary school. However, it wasn't a good thing. Instead, somehow, I felt like time was slipping away from me.

Don't get me wrong, I don't blame my boyfriend at all. But there were so many times that Alfred would look at me as if I could vanish into thin air. On more than one occasion he would hold my hand so hard that it hurt and I would have to snap it away. He would smile in apology and take my hand back, this time gentle, but still firm. And that look in his eyes when he would turn away made me forgive him every time.

However, there were other times that I was more scared than confused. The worst was when Alfred had horrible nightmares. He would scream first, jolting me from my deep sleep, and shoot up out of the bed, his hands out as if he were reaching for someone. When he awoke he would be halfway across the room and look around in a panic, calling my name.

"Alfred?" I would ask from my spot on the bed.

And then he'd turn, relief taking a toll on his body as he collapsed back on the bed in my arms. Some nights he cried while others he just held me close and wouldn't let me ask questions. But every time he would repeat my name and look at me as if I had died.

As we neared our second year anniversary, I had arranged for us to go see a movie downtown and then a romantic dinner at a restaurant near the café Alfred had taken me to shortly after we met back up. It always made me smile when I remembered how surprised he had looked to see me. Almost like seeing a ghost. His hasty invitation to catch-up touched me from the get-go.

Honestly, I thought he had forgotten me after all of these years. While in high school I had taken a fancy to him, but it never followed through as he stopped answering my texts and turned down any invitations to hang out together. Later, I learned it was because he threw all of his energy into making a time machine. At first I scoffed at such an idea (really, a time machine?), but after seeing the actual device, I was quite impressed. Alfred explained as much as I could understand, but when I asked if he ever used it, the man hesitantly would say, "Once or twice."

The night Alfred had asked me out, he took my hand, watching me closely, and told me he had loved me for years. I choked on the tea I had been drinking. I thought it was impossible that a man that hadn't paid me any attention for years had suddenly professed such a deep love for me. To be honest, at first I thought he was merely dragging me along and didn't truly love me and for awhile, our relationship was a little rocky. I had him out at arm's length despite his pleas to be closer; to never leave my side. It was unnerving, to say the least.

However, the look in his eyes said words of unspeakable yearning and affection for me. I remember he caressed my face as I continued to stare at him that night in the cafe. There was something there. His eyes used to look so full of life, but ever since we had become friends again I noticed there was a distinct difference in his appearance.

Even now I'm still struck by it and wonder as to what could have made his eyes loose that cheery hue he had back in high school. Sometimes he looked worse depending on the days, especially the closer it got to winter. His fits of restless sleep would grow worse, especially when it snowed, and many times I worried as the bags under his eyes grew darker and darker.

It's spring now and Alfred's much better. When we were younger I remember Alfred say summer was his favorite season, but he had changed it to be spring. "It's because that's when everything starts anew, you know?"

I had a feeling it had something to do with us meeting up again and starting our relationship, but I didn't want to say anything. I just kept the secret in my heart and gave him a few more kisses in the morning without telling him why. This morning when I awoke, Alfred had already made breakfast and we spent the morning snuggled up in bed. Despite the weather report from the day before saying today would be sunny, it was already starting to drizzle outside. Alfred complained that our anniversary should be perfect and I just thought how ridiculous that was. It already felt pretty good to me, not like I'd tell him that. Knowing Alfred, he'd just laugh at me and call me a sap.

As if he was any better. I just had better manners and didn't make fun of him. Often.

"Arthur?" Alfred called from down the hallway. "Are you ready to go? You're worse than a girl when you get ready!"

I stuck my head out of the bathroom, finishing the last bit of trying to keep my hair down. Trying being the keyword here. It didn't always work. "And you need to learn patience! I'm almost done, you tosser!"

Even from down the hallway I could hear Alfred laughing at my British slang. Despite having known me since high school and dating me for the past two years, he still loved my accent. Although, whenever he tried to mock me his fake accent was atrocious and I would glare at him until he stopped. Honestly, can't he do better than that?

We left together, Alfred clutching my hand and I trying to avoid looking at our clasped hands. Yes, even after two years, I was still quite flustered at public displays of affection. That certainly never stopped Alfred as he held my hand at every possible moment. Today, however, I would let everything slide. We had overcome so much and I was quite proud of my boyfriend.

While he was still very emotional in the winter and could sometimes suffocate me with his love, I had the bitter taste in my mouth that he had lost someone. Someone he loved dearly and he blamed himself for it. Obviously it was in the winter and it had to have been on a snowy day. When we crossed a street, he always held my hand tighter than any other given moment, so it had to have been this person was hit by a car. Whatever the reason, Alfred was getting better about it.

Many times when we began dating, he was too much too soon and I didn't know how to handle it. Our relationship almost shattered when he pushed me to a breaking point and I had to shove him away for a solid week. But when we were back together, he cried and apologized and promised he'd get better. So far, he's kept to his word. But now that I knew there had been another before me, well, I guess I could let a few things slide. Anything to ease his pain.

"Hey Arthur?" Alfred asked me suddenly. We had stopped short of the crosswalk and Alfred looked ahead with wide eyes. "I-is it okay if we go down another street? I know a totally cool shortcut."

"What shortcut?" I asked. I glanced at my watch. "Alfred, we don't have time for this. The movie starts soon. You were so adamant about seeing it, so let's not waste anymore time."

I tugged on his hand as I began to walk, but he held firm in his spot. His eyes hadn't left their previous spot. I turned with an aggravated sigh to look at Alfred, finding it quite childish that he wanted to take me down some other street rather than just go to the theater directly. It was only two more blocks.

"Really Alfred, I don't have time for this." I pulled my hand away.

Alfred reacted, reaching for me in a panicked state, but I wouldn't have it. There were times it was beyond me about his protection of me. And quite frankly, the only way to recover was sometimes through force. I moved away into the street, ignoring any of Alfred's protests and pulling my arm away when he grabbed for me.

But then I heard a screeching of brakes. I snapped my head over, momentarily catching that the crosswalk signal was still red, and saw a car speeding my way. I gasped, frozen in my spot. Only one thing went through my mind; _how could I do this to Alfred?_ But then I felt hands pushing me. I stumbled and fell into something white.

My arms hit the pavement hard, but I knew I was safe. People all around were calling for help, scared at what had just transpired. I was too scared to look. I knew Alfred had pushed me. He had been closest to me. If I turned and saw him hurt, I'm not quite sure what I would do.

"Help!" I stiffened. That was Alfred's voice. But he didn't sound pained, he sounded hysterical. "Someone! PLEASE! Someone help! Oh God, Arthur!"

Arthur? I furrowed my brow and turned around, expecting to see Alfred lying in the street, hurt by the car that I had foolishly stepped in front of. But there was no such scene. Instead, Alfred was standing over me as I bled out onto the street. Alfred wasn't touching any part of me, just touching my face from time to time. Somehow, I was coming in and out of consciousness, barely still alive.

"Alfred…," I whispered.

"No! No, no, no, Arthur! Please! Don't leave me! You'll be okay!" Alfred was crying in a way I've never seen any human being. His glasses had fallen off from the tears and he was scrambling to do something, but somehow he was doing nothing. He was just moving to move. "Just stay with me! Please! You can't leave me!"

But I was gone. My eyes closed and I could see from here all of my color drain from my body. I stumbled back until I hit a wall, my hands over my mouth. Dear God, I had just watched my own death. I was dead and this was just me as a ghost or angel or something other transient being and I had just witnessed it all. How could I do such thing to Alfred? I had left him alone when he had already lost someone he loved.

And yet, something caught my eye. If I was dead, how did that change Alfred's and my clothes? How did it change the car that hit me? It was a truck now. And how did the weather change? It wasn't snowing and it certainly wasn't nearing Christmas. There were a few banners hanging advertising upcoming Christmas sales.

Dying didn't mean everything changed. So what had just happened? Maybe what I thought was before was all just a delusional memory and what was before me was something real. Or maybe I was just going crazy.

I felt a vibration on my wrist and looked down to see my watch. It was the watch Alfred had given to me on our one year anniversary. It was broken and never worked, but I kept hold of it because it meant something to him. I always knew it was from his previous special someone, but that didn't mean I tossed it away. It had been special to them so it would be special to me too, even though I would never meet them.

The watch was lighting up and the hands were flying around the inside of the glass. My eyes widened as it stopped on the dime at midnight. I saw a flash, much like the one that I had fallen into when I landed on the ground. I thought that was just my spirit leaving my body, but it looked like it was the watch's doing. Again, I heard Alfred crying my name. I looked back, saddened to see my beloved cry for me, but somehow I felt that this wasn't right.

And then I was watching as the truck hit my body in the side and I collapsed on the street. Alfred screamed and I whispered his name. People called for help and still, nothing changed. I still died. This wasn't real. Well, perhaps it was, but it wasn't me. That couldn't have been me. Too much was different from when I was with Alfred. But that didn't explain how I had ended up here.

My eyes scanned the area, trying to see if there was some explanation. People must have seen me, but they were far more focused on the fact a man was dying on the street than seeing a ghost hanging around against the side of a building.

There!

Something was different from the last time. This time, a blonde man ran around a corner with a flushed face and a hurried expression. Even from where I stood I could see he looked furious as he swore and flung his fists around wildly, as if he were to hit something. He ran a hand through his hair, taking off his glasses, and then looking out at the scene before us.

That was Alfred. There was no other way to say it. Not just any Alfred, but my Alfred. I noticed then that the Alfred in the street was a good few years younger than mine had been, whereas the one across the way was a perfect fit. He had the same tired eyes.

But then, if he was there, then who was in the street? Or if he was in the street, who was over there in the corner? I grabbed my head, my thoughts swirling as I began to hyperventilate. Seeing myself die was one thing, but now there were two Alfreds? Nothing was making sense.

The watch flashed again and I heard the scene unfold before me again. I was struck, Alfred, cried, and seconds or minutes later, my Alfred would appear. It continued on and on and slowly it all began to wash over me.

I watched over and over all the times I died-

_Arthur!_

All the times Alfred cried for me-

_Someone get some help! Please!_

All the times Alfred missed saving me. By hours, minutes, seconds. All the times I watched his heart break over and over. I felt my body slip away as if I really were dying.

But how was it I had lived? I know I was standing here, alive. Those memories together with Alfred these past two years couldn't be anything other than real. And yet this was a time before we knew each other.  
>Alfred had gone to a different school than I. Our ties had been cut shortly before graduation in secondary school. But that other me was younger than the me now. This wasn't the same us. It was a relationship I didn't know. A time we had never shared. But the Alfred that tried to save me looked like my Alfred.<p>

Same age and that dreary hue to his blue eyes. The look that he had experienced hardship in his past. This was it. It wasn't someone from the past. It was me. My death.

But if I was here and not dead, then who was hit by the car in our time? I heard the car horn, a crunch noise, and Alfred's scream.

I stumbled back, shivering as an unsettling feeling was dumped on like ice water. My hands were over my mouth and my eyes shaking in fear. He had pushed me. He must have. That car was coming for me and for the briefest of moments I felt hands on my back before I fell in the past.

Alfred! My Alfred was hurt and alone! I had to get to him.

I grabbed at the watch, but unsure how to make it work. I turned the dials, but I remained where I was. I grew frantic as I whispered Alfred's name, imagining him cold and alone and hurt. _Dying_.

The watch blinked and I thought, for a moment, it had worked, but I feared that I would be dropped in the same time again. Waiting for the cold snow once more, I was surprised to see I was now in a library. Looking around I saw it was one I knew. Yes, this was the one at my old secondary school. But how had I ended up here?

I was between a row of books looking out at the tables. Nothing seemed different or strange, just a normal day. I heard a loud thump and a few curse words nearby. Turning quickly to look between the rows I saw Alfred.

He had fallen on his back in the row next to me. Scrambling up, he looked at the row on the other side of him. I couldn't see what he was looking at, but it made him tense up and hide. He looked around, thankfully missing me, and strode over to the newspapers.

I skidded back in the row, inching over so Alfred couldn't see me in case he turned around.

"Hey you!"

Alfred and I both jumped. Alfred thought he had been caught, but was even more scared. I had just heard my own voice. Younger. Much younger.

I moved to look from behind another row out at the tables. There I saw a teenaged version of myself talking to Alfred. The young and beautifully untouched version of the man I remembered from our school days. He had his feet on the table and a sour look on his face.

I gasped, realizing where I was. If this watch was following Alfred back through his times to save me, then he had gone all the way back to when we first met. I watched as we bickered, as the past Alfred got up to leave, and then stood dumbstruck as my Alfred rushed out, stealing the younger shell's backpack. I followed closely behind, but kept out of sight. I stopped behind a corner, able to hear their conversation, but not be seen.

I listened as he told his past self to leave me alone. To not be my friend. He was trying to save me without saving us. He would rather I lived than ever know him.

He was going to prevent us from falling for each other. That was his theory.

I felt myself reach out to stop him. No. I wouldn't want that. Even if I died, I'd rather know my beloved than live never knowing. But I would know. Know that empty place in my heart that never felt full when I was with someone else. Because only Alfred made me whole.

The watch flashed and I found myself back on the streets. It wasn't raining or snowing. I wasn't quite sure what time I was in now. This certainly wasn't my own as it was still Christmas season, but it couldn't have been the day of the accident. Looking around I saw Alfred near a newspaper stand. His head fell and his shoulders flickered up and down. As if he were crying.

Oh. He had come back to the day after I had been hit to see if I died or not. Judging from his reaction, his efforts were in vain.

The watch flashed again and I was back at my old school. However, I could not find Alfred, past or present. Looking around, I wondered if I should stray too far from where I was. Perhaps there had been a malfunction. But if that were true, was I stuck in the past? I moved to check the watch again, but in moments a blur of blonde whizzed by me. I followed behind keeping a healthy distance between us. Alfred stopped outside of one of the study halls, looking in through the window. I stopped behind a corner and peered around at the boy. Somehow, I had a feeling he was watching our past lives. His expression was not one of happiness.

While we waited for our former selves to appear, I thought back to a time when Alfred and I had begun dating. He asked if I could play the guitar and I, amazed he even knew, had mutely nodded. He asked me to play a song, and so I did. It was just one that popped into my head at that moment and, at the time, I thought nothing of it. But then, Alfred began to sing.

"_Boredoms in the bathroom shaking out the loose teeth. Sally's in the stirrups claiming her destiny. And nobody nowhere understands anything. About me and all my dreams. Lost at sea. I'll be your stumbleine."_

I'm not quite sure why that memory appeared in my head. Perhaps it was because I was so overwhelmed with emotions, I didn't know what to do or what to think anymore. I was caught between a reality I was unable to comprehend was skewed or not. But Alfred, Alfred I knew was real. He would always be real.

At this point I guess I was just following along now to see how everything came together. To understand my fate. To see if Alfred was my stumbleine.

After a few moments, the teen Alfred came out of the room. He smiled knowingly at his future self. "I knew you'd return."

"Why didn't you listen to me?" my Alfred asked.

I knew. Because Alfred can't stay away from me. Even now he was traveling through time to stop my death. He was even willing to give up our love for my life. And as past Alfred explained his reasons, my Alfred too knew. Knew that it was impossible to break true love. He could see it in the naïve eyes of his past self, the same eyes I had believed in. The same ones I yearned to see again. I felt incredibly guilty that it was my death that brought him so much pain.

He finished that machine, presumably after I died. But I wasn't there. He must have been so strong.

He looked in the window, a look of utter defeat in his eyes. I ached to hold him, but he returned his attention back to his other self.

"Might as well…," Alfred mumbled. He handed over the paper to his past self. He looked at it inquisitively. "A formula to save on future stress."

Alfred turned towards me. For a moment I think he saw me, but he was gone in a flash. Back to our timeline. I continued to watch his past self and realized something.

That paper. This day. Yes. This day Alfred and I had just had a normal study time. I was slowly starting to think he was cute, but nothing more. He had left for the bathroom, but when he came back, he looked so excited. I tried to ask what had changed, but he gathered his things up, gave a hasty apology and left. After that, he had never been the same. We never were close again.

It was only once we had that first day out having coffee that Alfred told me he had thrown himself into working on a time machine. For a few months I honestly thought it had been me.

But it had been Alfred. Both of them. One had made the decision to keep the memories, even my death, and move on. Move forward. He must not have known it would change everything. His entire world had probably been crushed, thinking he had thrown me away and given up.

He was going to accept his defeat and just let me die.

The other, though, had made the decision to throw his life into a machine that may or may not work. That timeline was the timeline I lived on. In all honesty, Alfred should be dead. That car, the one that had come back for me, was meant for him. Time had caught up to us and the Alfred from a life I never knew had merged with the Alfred I did know from years past. But they didn't.

Alfred, my Alfred, still knew everything I didn't. He knew of the life we once had. I should have caught on, from the way he knew what tea I liked, that I played the guitar, what song I was bloody playing that day.

_And no matter what they do  
>They can't get to you<em>

The watch beeped and I wondered if I was finally going home. Going to see my Alfred. But would he be there? Alfred had selfishly come back to save me. What a hero. But a stupid one. He sacrificed himself. It took two years of a life that we tried to build again. He, from a shell I never knew, and me from what I thought was a new beginning.

Time must not have liked that.

Instead of snow or concrete or a bloody street, I found myself floating in nothing. Or, would I wager nothing was. It wasn't anything, not darkness, not light, not even static. I don't remember much except the pounding of my heart and the ticking of a clock. They were in perfect tangent with one another. A chill flew down my spine and I curled in on myself.

"Alfred…"

I should have heard my own voice, but all I heard in that dismal abyss was my heart shattering.

My body began to shake. I gripped the watch, begging it to take me home. Lifting my head, I shook my wrist violently, pressing any button and turning any dial I could find. My vision blurred, but I kept going. If Alfred was back in our time, dying, and alone, I couldn't very well sit here in the abyss of time. I had to get out. There had to have been some way. If that stupid American could find a way to travel through time and space and stumble along a line of saving my life, creating a whole new series of events, then I could make it out of this too.

But as time wore on, or rather, what I perceived as time, I began to see that it was hopeless. The watch sat motionless and useless, as it had the entire time it sat on my wrist since Alfred gave it to me. The last time it worked, I was a different person. I lived a different life.

There was really nothing I could. I didn't have any ability to travel through time; I certainly wasn't a Doctor. I was not that desirable. Alfred should never have thrown his life away. I had no qualities about me that made one just travel through time and muck around with Fate. I was not one that one should sacrifice themselves for. And time must have seen this. I would rather I was taken away so that a wonderful man like Alfred could continue to live on.

But, love didn't mean someone had to sacrifice themselves. Why did one of us have to die? My life wouldn't end, but I certainly wouldn't look for another significant other if I was to lose Alfred, and it was quite clear he returned the sentiment. So what were we to do?

"Well," I said to myself, my voice swallowed by nothing. I looked to my watch. "Sitting here won't change anything. Come on, you bloody device. Take me back! Take me back to my own time! Take me back now!"

For a moment, I felt my body lurch as if I were on a rollercoaster and the ride had reached the peak, about to fly down. Then I felt my body crumble onto the hard concrete, rain sloshing down on my head. I had never been so grateful to feel so unbelievably cold in my entire life.

People came up and tried to help me up. Their words jumbled together ranging from "Are you okay?" to "Holy shit, dude!" But I couldn't hear them. I was listening for someone to scream that they were calling for help. Waiting for that moment Alfred would cry out in pain from having been hit by the car.

But then I felt warm, rough hands on my shoulders, turning me around quickly. I fell backwards onto my butt and looked up into wide, bright blue eyes.

_And nobody nowhere understands anything  
>About me and all my dreams<br>Lost at sea_

"A-Arthur!" Alfred cried. "Arthur! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Alfred…," I whispered. Why wasn't he dead? He had pushed me. And yet here he was, safe. Safe and alive. I reached out to touch his face. "Yes…I'm fine…Are you…?"

Alfred crushed me in his arms, pressing me close to his chest. His heart raced as he tried to catch his breath. I didn't think it had been from running, but from almost having a terrible case of déjà vu. I clung to him, my fingers digging into his jacket. I shivered, but not from the cold. It must have been from the fact I had realized the unbelievable sheer luck that had been bestowed upon Alfred and I.

We had been spared.

"Al-Alfred… I want to go home… Please… Take me home…"

* * *

><p>Going home was a blur. I'm quite sure Alfred kept me by his side and waved off any concerned citizens loitering nearby. We arrived home and I moved to take a shower. Even my spine was frozen, clinging to the skin of my back. As the hot water coursed down my body, I fell onto the floor and wept. Alfred heard me and joined me, not even undressing as he sat in the shower beside me, his arm wrapped securely around my shoulders.<p>

I turned, eyes searching his own tired ones, and thought that now we were the same. He was my hero and, somehow, I was his. Saving him from a dead life. My throat was constricted, and yet, I willed myself to tell him. He had to know that I knew everything now. No borders between us.

"Alfred… I saw. I saw all the times you went back." My voice shook and I cried more than I spoke, but I still persevered. "Went back through time to save me. That broken watch. I don't know how. Maybe it's connected to that blasted machine downstairs. You went back sixteen times before getting it right. And then you tried to stop us from even being friends. No, no, no, I don't want that. I want to always know you. To always have a chance to love you. Oh God, Alfred. That's why you're so…"

By this time, Alfred had begun crying as well, but he never looked away. He knew that the truth had finally been revealed. I couldn't finish my sentence as I just closed in to kiss him. My impossibly stupid, stupid…

"Love," I whispered as our lips broke apart. "I love you."

Alfred caressed my face, still unable to say anything, and kissed my forehead. "I love you too… And I would go back a hundred times to save you… I wanted you to live."

Words failed me, so I clung to him again as we kissed under the water, ignoring that it felt like kissing in that cold rain outside. Alfred turned off the water a moment later. He wrapped an arm around my waist, picked me up, and together we left. I didn't feel ready for sex and I don't think he was either, but I knew I wanted to just lay and hold Alfred.

Feel his warmth forever surrounding me.

"But why me?" I asked, clutching Alfred close. "Why go through so much...for me?"

Alfred hesitated as he looked up at the ceiling. He then rolled over on top of me, catching me off guard. "Because I love you."

I scoffed, giving him an unimpressed look. For some reason, I had expected Alfred to say something terribly romantic. Don't get me wrong, hearing Alfred profess his love for me always made my heart race. Still, it was just so hard to see Alfred put himself through years of pain for me just because he simply loved me. It was just something too difficult for me to believe. And yet, I knew Alfred could truly hold that simple idea of it was all just love.

I flushed slightly and gave Alfred's chest a light shove. "You just love me?"

Alfred frowned. "Well yeah, I mean I want you to live life and feel everything shitty and awesome about it. To grow old and die a stodgy old man, not die a stodgy young guy."

I smacked Alfred hard on the chest, turning away with a huff. Alfred merely laughed, but continued on.

"I want you to live on with me so we can experience everything together. So our love can grow. We can fight and love and grow old together. And then, when our time has come, we'll be happily married and will have gone through so much that it'll be perfectly fine you die."

My breath caught and I had to look away before Alfred caught the look in my eyes. He had said more than what I wanted. And yet...

"You...want to marry me?" I whispered, feeling thoroughly breathless.

Alfred let out a nervous laugh. "Oh did I say that aloud?"

Shaking my head, I moved to hold his head as I kissed him. "I expect a proper proposal later, so then I can give you a proper answer."

That bright smile of his appeared on that goofy face. He grinned until his teeth showed. I felt a hand slide up my buttocks. A warm pool of desire sat on my tailbone, shooting up my lower back. Perhaps we really were ready for sex.

"Or, you could give me one right now..."

* * *

><p>Morning broke and I felt the bed was empty. Alfred's warmth, however, was still enveloping me. Despite the fact we had stayed up far later into the night than was healthy, we had only made love once. But that was all it took. I needed nothing more from Alfred for him to prove he loved me.<p>

I dressed and went out into the living room, surprised to see it was empty. The television should be on by now, filling the apartment with Saturday morning cartoons. I even checked the kitchen and our small guest room that was a make-shift office space for Alfred, but to no avail. He was still nowhere to be found. Perhaps he was out. I made some tea while I reflected on everything that had happened.

From this point on, our relationship would, just, never be the same again. Alfred had always been the possessive one of me, but I felt that now I would be the one to never want to let go of Alfred's hand. I was confident that new fears would emerge after this, especially that of cars, but I wasn't sure how bad the emotional damage would be until it came to me. Whatever happened, though, I knew I would be fine.

Alfred would be my stumbleine.

Eventually I went downstairs, seeing this was the last place Alfred could possibly be. The basement was a place I greatly avoided. It always felt like something truly ominous lurked there. I couldn't help shivering as the cold air hit my bare skin.

"Alfred?" I called. I had reached the bottom of the stairwell and saw the back of Alfred's figure standing around the time machine.

His back was hunched, but he straightened upon hearing my voice. It wasn't until I approached him from behind that he turned to look at me. I thought perhaps he had come down to tinker with the time machine or look over his old equations, but the look in his eyes told of something else. I grew nervous.

"I-Is something wrong?" I asked.

"It wasn't on," Alfred replied sternly. He was so grave, I didn't think to ask what he meant, worrying more about why he was so upset. He must have sensed my confusion for Alfred pressed on. "The time machine. That watch would have only worked if the machine was on, but it keeps a record of when I last had it on. The last time... was two years ago."

I was silent, letting it sink in. I couldn't even comprehend how it was possible, but for some reason, I didn't really want to know. The very idea scared me. I had time travelled, but I certainly wasn't going to flaunt it about to any and everyone. I still was horrified that it had even happened.

Alfred, though, suddenly looked stern and determined. He spun to look at the machine, his fingers twitching. "I have to know why. This is all so exciting! I mean, what if I opened a time rift or it's connect through-"

I reached to grab Alfred, stopping him from going further. Alfred looked at me, confused by my actions. I shook my head slowly. "No. We got lucky. Time was merciful. Let's not tempt it. You can't lose me again."

My words struck home and Alfred eased off. He pulled me into his arms, where I clung to his back and relaxed against his chest.

"To be honest, the fact I saw everything you did scares me. I'm quite terrified that all of that... even happened. I'd hate for someone to remember that I shouldn't be alive and then I vanish or..."

I hadn't realized I was violently shaking in Alfred's arms. He held me close, rubbing my arms and shushing me. I felt a single tear slip out, Alfred moved to wipe it away and kiss my cheek.

"That won't happen. No one is coming for you. You'll always be right here." He sounded so sure with that goofy grin that I couldn't help but weakly smile back.

"I know. Because if anything were to happen, you'd come and save me. Even time has no hold on you."

And while Alfred laughed at how big his head was getting and I teased him about it, we both knew what I had said was true. Whether it be through time or space, Alfred would find a way back to me. Because while we had beaten time, it was more of just a gift by default. A gracious artist giving us one more chance to spend the rest of our time together until it was up.

And so we would. This time for sure.

* * *

><p><em>Hoshiko2<em>'s cents: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BRO HAKUKU! This is my version of a sequel to my dear big bro. I hope everyone enjoyed, especially haku. She already read it a week ago, but I went back and touched it up a little bit, so hopefully it's a much easier read this time around.

Made a Doctor Who reference, if anyone caught it. Also, there are a lot of parallels I made between this version and the original. I hope some were caught.

Thanks for reading!


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